The Voice of Russia
Hizb-ut-Tahrir: the New Face of Islam
Interview with Dr. Emmanuel Karagiannis, based with the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, at the University of Macedonia at Thessaloniki, in Greece.
Bearing in mind that the Arab spring developments have somehow brought them to the fore of the political landscape, if we look at the Arab Spring – this is one situation, but then there similar organizations operating in locations like the Central Asia and one of them is Hizb-ut-Tahrir which is basically a very important player but so little is known about it to the broader public. So, what kind of organization is that? Do I get it right that it is really an international network?
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a transnational movement that currently finds support among young Muslims in Central Asia, in Western Europe, in the Middle East, in Australia and even in North America. I think it presents a difficult challenge to both Western and Muslim governments, because it calls for the unification of all the Muslim countries into a single Khalifat but at the same time it has rejected violence as the tool of political change. So, we don’t know much about the organization, it is very secretive. We can only speculate about the size of that organization. The only thing that we know for sure is that this is a very transnational movement.
But what are their methods? You said that it denies violence as a method, but what are they doing to establish their influence?
Basically Hizb-ut-Tahrir has advocated a three staged program of action which is modeled after the three stages the Prophet Mohammed experienced when he tried to establish the Islamic state. The first stage would be to recruit the members and the group is doing this through various ways for example they are distributing leaflets in mosques or on bazaars, or they are trying to approach people in the universities, or revealing let’s say Hamas. So, this is the first stage to recruit members. The second stage is basically to call the society to embrace Islam, in fact that means to Islamize the society and this is what they are currently doing in certain ways – they are trying to spread their ideology. And then we have the third stage – to take over power and eventually to spread Islam outside the Muslim populated areas.
It’s a bit vague when it comes to the third stage, I mean they don’t say much about it. It looks like what they have in mind is a revolutionary takeover with various civil action methods – through demonstrations, protests they imagine the scenario where Hizb-ut-Tahrir will take over the government and then establish an Islamic state.
What kind Islam are they promoting?
Hizb-ut-Tahrir claims to be a nonpartisan Islamic group. In reality they are very much Sunni, most of their leadership is of Palestinian origin, they don’t reject of course Shias as members but it’s clear that this is a very Sunni oriented group. They don’t invite Muslims from minority groups like Ahmadia or Druze, or Alawi, so they will invite only some Shia from Iran but they have not been very successful in inviting non-Sunnis. So, I would say that this is a very Sunni oriented group.
Dr. Karagiannis, what about their social activity, I mean are they involved in social programs, in proving the asocial assistance to the local population?
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is not like Hamas or Hezbollah, they don’t have a very advanced program for assisting the society. But there are some indications that at the local level through some mosques that they may control they have been able to provide zakat which is an obligation for every good Muslim to do, I mean every Friday to give zakat.
So, there are some indications pointing to that direction that maybe they have been able to help some poor or older people. But in theory what they say is that this is not their job clearly to help the society in that way. What they want to do is basically Islamize the society and spread their ideology. And their ideology is clearly about the restoration of the Khalifat – this is what they want to do – they want to unite all the Muslims and then they want to restore the Khalifat.
So, they are not doing what the Muslim Brotherhood is doing in Egypt or Hezbollah is doing in Lebanon, or Hamas is doing in Gaza. They don’t sponsor any schools or kindergartens, they don’t collect the garbage like Hamas is doing in Gaza. They present themselves more as an intellectual movement.
Where do they get their money from?
I think we don’t know that much and when it comes to funding again there is a lot of speculation. It seems that first of all they collect donations from their members or from wealthy sympathizers in the Persian Gulf. There are also some rumors about their own businesses. When I was in the Central Asia, I found out that there was a rumor that Hizb-ut-Tahrir has established its own business so basically they are able to get funding from their own sources.
How accurate do you think is a forecast that this organization which is now a well established in some of the Central Asian countries could be used as a fuel to start some kind of Islamic insurgency in that part of the world? And how good is the assessment that they would establish ties with the Taliban?
This is an issue of controversy among academics. In my professional judgment Hizb-ut-Tahrir cannot be used for the purpose of declaring jihad or for the purpose of the launching a war against the West, it’s an intellectual movement. By the Western standards it is clearly an extremist organization like the communist parties for the most of the Westerners.
However Hizb-ut-Tahrir is spreading an ideology that to a certain extent can help jihadist organizations like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or even Al Qaeda affiliated organizations, it can help them spread up their message let’s say easier. So, this is not a terrorist organization, it is an extremist organization. They have criticized the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan for not doing their homework, for not being intellectually advanced. On the other hand both the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have also criticized Hizb-ut-Tahrir for being just a group of intellectuals.
But of course there are some similarities and those jihadist groups. All of them want to restore the Khalifat but the big difference is their methodology. From the Hizb-ut-Tahrir point of view the appropriate methodology is the one that Prophet Mohammed followed and that was a peaceful takeover. For the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or other jihadist organizations the proper methodology is clearly to declare a war against Catholicsand the rest. Again we have to speculate but from what we know Hizb-ut-Tahrir is not connected in any way with the Taliban or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
How old is it?
It was established in 1953.
Quite a long time ago!
Yes, in East Jerusalem and they haven’t changed their ideology for the last 60 years, they have been very proud for that, I mean they think of themselves as the only true Islamic group in the world. To them this ideological credibility is very important that’s why they have been very reluctant to ally themselves with the jihadists or help in any way the jihadists organizations. And if they have done this they would have put themselves at risk at least for those branches that are operating in the Western countries, I mean they know how things work on the West and they know that if they cross their red line, if they declare a war, if they somehow help jihadist groups, then they will have to deal with the Western security agencies.
So, they have been very careful and that’s why I told you from the beginning that this is an extremist organization, like the communist parties for many Westerners, but it is clearly not a terrorist organization.
Do I get you right that they have their headquarters located in somewhere London?
It looks like their logistical headquarters is located in London and the international leadership is probably located in either Jordan or Lebanon. We don’t know much about their international leadership. But you are right, at least the logistical headquarters is located in London.
Have you had a chance to meet with some of those people?
Yes, I met some members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Central Asia, also I met a few in Lebanon and I also met some members in Great Britain. So, I had the chance to discuss with some of them the questions of ideology, questions of methodology. Of course you cannot find out much from those conversations, they have been very secretive and very careful when they share views with the outsiders. But still this is an organization that has produced a huge amount of literature – many books, many leaflets – thought it is difficult for an analyst to follow their moves and to monitor the organization, it is rather difficult.
Dr. Karagiannis, but now talking about the global outreach of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, what about its presence in Russia?
Hizb-ut-Tahrir has gained some popularity in Muslim populated territories of the Russian Federation, like for example Tatarstan but they have not been popular in the North Caucasus and this is because there they compete with many well established Muslim groups. Hizb-ut-Tahrir has been popular to a certain extent only in Tatarstan and some other Muslim populated areas of Central Russia and probably this has to do with the way some Tatars understand Islam. Tatar Islam is very moderate, very relaxed so it has been easier for Hizb-ut-Tahrir to penetrate those areas as opposed to the North Caucasus where Slafis have gained ground and it is difficult for Hizb-ut-Tahrir to compete with Salafis.
Do I get it right that Salafi Islam is not really the genuine Islam that initially was there in the North Caucasus?
You are absolutely right – Salafi Islam is foreign to the North Caucasus. The most of the North Caucasian Muslims follow Hanafi Islam. So, Salafi Islam penetrated the North Caucasus following the first war in Chechnya from 1994 to 1996. So, following those tragic events Salafi organization managed to penetrate the area and to establish a presence in the North Caucasus, especially in Dagestan and Chechnya, much less in Kabardino Balkariya or other Muslim autonomous republics of the North Caucasus.
So, Hizb-ut-Tahrir has not been able to do much to the North Caucasus as opposed to Tatarstan where it is clear that they have established some branches and they have a presence there. That’s why the Russian authorities, which have banned the group, have managed to arrest many members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Tatarstan.
Following the logic Hizb-ut-Tahrir would have been quite unable to penetrate locations something like Albania for instance.
Yes, Hizb-ut-Tahrir has been able to gain popularity in the Central Asia, in Indonesia, in certain Middle Eastern countries like Jordan but they have not been able to penetrate Muslim populated areas on the Balkans like Kosovo, Bosnia. And this is because for the local Muslims Hizb-ut-Tahrir looks too much Arabic if you know what I mean – the leadership is of the Palestinian origin, most of the senior members are either Arabs or South Asians, so for the Muslims on the Balkans I guess Hizb-ut-Tahrir must look very foreign and very Arabic. But I cannot exclude the possibility that at some point Hizb-ut-Tahrir will be able to gain popularity in Bosnia or in Kosovo, I mean they have been very successful in many ways. In the recent years they were able to penetrate the Muslim populated areas of China like Xinjiang…
The Uyghur community.
Yes, of course they compete with the Uyghur nationalist groups, it is not easy. And you know the Chinese authorities have monitored closely the situation. But if to judge from their website and how much time they spend on China, and what other information we have about Xinjiang and the Muslim population there – we can clearly draw the conclusion that Hizb-ut-Tahrir has managed to establish their presence in China.
How about Scandinavia?
I know that their Danish branch has been very active, they have produced a lot of literature. And the leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Denmark was arrested a couple o years ago for issuing threats against the Jews of Denmark. So, this is what I know, that basically Denmark has been the base for Hizb-ut-Tahrir activities in Scandianvia. I don’t any other information about branches of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Norway or Finland, or Sweden. It seems that Denmark is their main base for activities in the North.
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